Thiruvananthapuram: A delegation led by Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs M. Vijayakumar will leave for New Delhi in the first week of August to hold discussions with the Civil Aviation Ministry to sort out issues connected with the development of a world class terminal for the Thiruvananthapuram international airport on the city side.

A decision to send the delegation was taken at a meeting of the Thiruvananthapuram Airport Development Society chaired by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan in the capital city on Sunday.

Talks on August 3

The delegation led by Mr. Vijayakumar and Managing Director of the Society Gyanesh Kumar will meet officials of the Airports Authority of India and Air India during their visit to New Delhi on August 3.

The development project will be finalised in the presence of Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel. Chief Minister also asked the officials to handover 6.07 hectares required for Air India to set up an aircraft maintenance base within a week, the society sources said.

The airliner is insisting on handing over the land for commencing the work of the Rs.70-crore maintenance base in the vicinity of the international airport.

Airports Authority of India General Manager Kalpanath Sethi and Air India General Manager J.S. Wakdhar detailed the development programmes at the meeting.

Mr. Achuthanandan suggested that the State-owned Kerala State Industrial Enterprises (KSIE), which runs the cargo complex at the international airport, should continue to handle the cargo.

Steps reviewed

The meeting was told that the State Government and the society had done all work on their part for the development of the airport.

Besides Mr. Vijayakumar, V. Sivankutty, V. Surendran Pillai, MLAs, Mayor Jayan Babu, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Sheela Thomas, Political Secretary to Chief Minister K.N. Balagopal, Special Secretary, Finance, Ishita Roy, General Manager of KSIE K. Radhakrishnan Nair, president of the Kerala Chapter of IATA E.M. Najeeb, Airport Director K. Natarajan, District Collector N. Ayyappan and Gyanesh Kumar attended the meeting.

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